Why Invest in Blended and Flipped Classrooms?

Blended and flipped classrooms are not without their costs. Expenses can include specialized media production and learner management applications, professional development for teachers and faculty, and, in some cases re-outfitting classroom spaces for active learning. So where’s the business case to back up the possible outlay of resources that support flipped and blended learning?

Let’s look at a few factors that might influence your decision to invest in blended or flipped classrooms:

Factor	Affordances of Flipped/Blended Teaching and Learning
Scarcity of Classroom Space: Across many education systems, and in higher ed in particular, physical classroom space has grown increasingly scarce (Baepler, Walker and Driessen)	Flipped classroom strategies have been shown to reduce the need for face to face classroom time by up to two-thirds (Baepler, Walker and Driessen), without compromising learning outcomes, thus unlocking new capacity for existing physical space.
Needs of Post-traditional/Commuter Students: In the past decade, institutions and educators have been required to consider the needs of an increasingly diverse profile of students in order to maintain and/or increase enrolments.	Flipped/blended learning provides an alternative to the fully online vs. fully on-campus dichotomy (Hill, 2012, quoted in Bower, Dalgarno,Kennedy, Lee & Kenney, 2015)
Targeting Continuous Improvement in Learning Outcomes: Educators in a variety of contexts have specific learners for whom learning outcomes require improvement.	A growing body of research points to meaningful improvements in learning outcomes and learner satisfaction through the use of flipped/blended classrooms.(Fulton, 2012; Green, 2012; Gross & Musselman, 2015; Gross, Pietri, Anderson, Moyano-Camihort & Graham, 2015; Papadopoulos & Roman, 2010).
Ongoing transition to Digital Learning: For a host of reasons, institutions and educators are called upon to increase the use of technology for teaching and learning.	Flipped/blended learning by nature encourages the adoption of pedagogy that  optimizes technology’s potential to enhance learning

 

Case Study Some institutions have experimented with blended learning solutions as a strategy for delivering professional development. The University of California, Irvine adopted a blended model for their delivery of safety training to hundreds of teaching assistants in Sciences and Engineering. You can learn more about this blended learning solution, the efficiencies it achieved, and its applicability to other institutions in UC Irvine’s Solutions at Work document.

Where to direct your flipped/blended spending?

There are a few key areas where investment in flipped/blended learning will reap the greatest benefits. These include:

• Technical support for instructors and students
• Teaching assistance
• Professional development for instructors
• Outfitting classrooms for Active Learning

Discussion Question – Option 1: Choose two items from the list above and, based on your professional context and experience, list some of the pros and cons that you would identify related to this type of spending in support of flipped/blended learning.

Discussion Question – Option 2: Place yourself in the role of a high level administrator at an institution of higher education or in a K-12 school district. Your provincial government has released to you a packet of funding for the strategic implementation of flipped classroom teaching in your area or institution. Provide a rough outline (bullet points) of how you might plan out your allocation of this funding. Explain your rationale behind your choices.

 

(For references, please see References/Optional Resources page)